Media

Oct 30, 2009

CMS Admitted as World Law Group Member Firm for Russia

Westfield, New Jersey/The World Law Group is pleased to announce that Moscow-based CMS has been admitted to membership after a unanimous vote by member firms attending the WLG’s recent Fall 2009 Meeting in Zurich, Switzerland.

Founded in 1988, the World Law Group is a global alliance of 49 leading independent law firms with more than 10,500 lawyers operating in over 55 countries and 260 major business centres around the world.

Since its founding, the World Law Group has pursued a strategy of selective growth, with new members added only as the needs of existing member firms and their clients dictate. Today, its member firms are generally among the top five in their respective jurisdictions, providing an unparalleled international legal resource for clients of member firms.

The World Law Group’s selection of CMS as its member in Russia followed an extensive review of the top local and international firms in that country. Established in January 2009 through a merger of the Russian offices of three CMS firms, CMS instantly became one of the country’s largest international firms, with more than 110 lawyers (including 25 partners).  With Russian, English, German and French qualified lawyers, top rankings in M&A, real estate, public/private partnerships (PPP), private equity, competition, insurance, and technology, media and telecommunications (TMT), and its full-service complement of practices, including corporate, banking and finance, commercial, litigation and tax and several industry-focused groups, CMS provides World Law Group member firms and their clients with comprehensive expertise and resources in the Russian market.

To list just a few of the accolades the firm has recently received: CMS was ranked first in M&A in Russia for the first half of 2009 by Bloomberg, “Law Firm of the Year, 2009 for Real Estate in Russia” by Acquisitions Magazine and “Best Law Firm for Insurance” by Reactions Magazine, 2007-08. It was also ranked #1 in PPP, Real Estate, Competition and TMT by Chambers Europe in 2008 and “Law Firm of the Year for Aviation at the ACQ Finance Magazine Awards, 2008.

Managing Partner John Hammond, along with lawyers Kirill Ratnikov and Elena Zhigaeva, travelled to Zurich to present the firm’s credentials to World Law Group members.

As incoming World Law Group President Ian Davis of Minter Ellison of Australia notes: “CMS in Russia was also something of a `known quantity,’ to World Law Group members as five other CMS firms are excellent, long-standing members of the WLG. That fact, plus the firm’s impressive standing in the Russian legal market, made it a natural first choice as our member firm in Russia.”

During its meeting in Zurich, the World Law Group also admitted Prieto & Carrizosa as its new member for Colombia. Read more here.

For more information, contact:
Shelley Boyes
The World Law Group
Tel: +1 416 532 291-
Email:

For more information about the World Law Group, visit www.theworldlawgroup.com
For more information about CMS in Russia, visit www.cmslegal.ru